Tag: Straw Dogs

REVIEW: We Are Still Here [2015]

Jared Mobarak

“The house needs a family” Sometimes the spirits clinging to your old home prove the least of your worries. Just ask the Sacchettis (Barbara Crampton‘s Anne and Andrew Sensenig‘s Paul). Attempting to restart their lives after the tragic death of their son months earlier, the couple moves to Aylesbury for peace, quiet, and a former mortuary turned residential property with a price-tag they couldn’t resist. She’s the spiritualist of the two, feeling a presence that could only be her boy Bobby comforting her. He’s the pragmatist, responding in kind with…

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TIFF14 REVIEW: October Gale [2015]

Jared Mobarak

“Sorry. I have to put my gum in your belly button for a second.” After enjoying Ruba Nadda‘s Inescapable and hearing a ton of praise for Cairo Time, I went into her latest effort October Gale with high expectations. Whether this fact tainted my experience or not, those hopes were not met. For whatever reason Nadda doesn’t seem quite certain about what she wants from her plot. Is it a Nicholas Sparks love triangle for the middle-aged between a still grieving widow (Patricia Clarkson‘s Helen), the memory of her husband…

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Posterized Propaganda September 2011: Misfires countered by fearlessness

Jared Mobarak

“Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover” is a proverb whose simple existence proves the fact that impressionable souls will do so without fail. This monthly column focuses on the film industry’s willingness to capitalize on this truth, releasing one-sheets to serve as not representations of what audiences are to expect, but as propaganda to fill seats. Oftentimes they fail miserably. September is the start of the film festival season. Unsurprisingly, while Toronto, Venice, and New York debut the flicks we’ve been waiting all year to see, the box office…

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DVDS: Criterion Collection

Jared Mobarak

My collection of DVDs from the venerable Criterion Collection, in order by spine number. (the package art is almost better than the films themselves) [fb-like-button]

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BNFF10 REVIEW: RAGE [2010]

Jared Mobarak

“I’m not just your therapist, I’m your friend” There’s nothing like a good throwback to the old 70s thriller. Not only does Christopher R. Witherspoon’s movie beg for comparisons to Steven Spielberg’s Duel, but it also contains two characters in an auto shop discussing that very film. What makes a good suspenseful mind trip is a simple yet taut storyline that relies heavily on reaction and the unknown. I was more riveted with RAGE than any horror film coming out the past decade because it refuses to use blood and…

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